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Good Days & Bad Days

So I’ve been very fortunate so far with my little pulp novel in that it has received mostly positive reviews and at times even mind blowing amazing reviews on websites, blogs, amazon and goodreads.

I’ve been preparing for the inevitable bads and have received a couple and will receive more but as prepared as I am, it doesn’t mean they don’t sting.

It is part of the deal I made with readers and I knew that going in. However, I will say that there is a big difference between negative feedback when it comes to a screenplay and negative feedback when it comes to a book.

With a screenplay you may not ever sell it and people may in fact tell you why they think it’s shit, but this tends to be a private affair between the writer and the executive or producer who has read the script.

It still hurts and will always happen way more than hearing about how much someone loves your script but it doesn’t end up on the internet.

Not so with books. And it is in fact this public praising/shaming that leads to a roller coaster ride of emotions (and occasionally about a half dozen doughnuts).

For example here’s a great review I got for The Geek http://bit.ly/1nimk7v When I read this review I basically lost my mind. I mean this is one hell of a love letter for a book I poured so much of my soul into.

The tweet of this review was retweeted like 12 times and that stung even more, but such is the world we live in.

Did I take the reviewers opinion of my book as a personal attack? Of course not. Did it suck to be me yesterday? Oh yes, it sucked big sweaty donkey balls.

This was basically my expression all day yesterday Tell me, honestly, do I look happy to you?

So now here’s the big question, which review is right and which review is wrong?

Unfortunately, they’re both right. Which sucks but it’s the truth.

A sincere review is an opinion and you can’t invalidate a person’s opinion just because you don’t like it.

Now if I may be uncharacteristically optimistic for a moment there is in fact something positive I took away from the bad review and that is simply this:

The person (Ben Walker) didn’t just write “This book sucks don’t waste your money” in fact that’s not what this review is at all.

Ben obviously read my book and it seems to me he certainly didn’t skim through it, but actually took the time to read it from cover to cover; and man he did not like my book that much. But then, he wrote a very thoughtful and detail oriented review of it. He didn’t just shit on it, he really seems to go out of his way to explain why the book didn’t work for him.

He gave it a four out of ten so yeah not thrilled but at least it wasn’t a two out of ten, so hey, positivity!

Suffice it to say I really like the review by The Two Gay Geeks a lot more than I like Ben Walker’s review of my book.

But I honestly respect both reviews equally.

Tomorrow I’ll wake up and there may be another good review of my book, the day after that another bad. The roller coaster will never stop and this is the life I have chosen.

And even though yesterday was not an amazing day to be me, it’s still better than having a real job.

Seriously those things suck.

So if you’re a writer or thinking about writing just keep that in mind. A good review is great but a bad review (while not so great) is just as valid. Unless the bad review is just filled with personal attacks in which case you can probably take that personally.

Anyhoo if you’d like to take a shot at reading The Geek it’s available in paperback from Amazon in the USA, UK and Canada and is also available as an ebook from amazon worldwide, ITunes and pretty much everywhere you can get a wifi connection. But hey here’s a link to my amazon author’s page http://amzn.to/1MwzPG6 I also have a tiny short story collection available from Amazon. It’s ebook only but is free if you have kindle unlimited and only .99 cents if you don’t.

You can also stop by goodreads and check it out over there. There’s links to lots of different outlets other than amazon from that site. And if you have a question, feel free to ask I’m always happy to interact. http://bit.ly/1XpMF4k

Over on Reluctant Joy I’ve posted the last original post on that site as I begin to move everything over here. It’s a little micro-story called STATION and I hope you like it http://bit.ly/1CzTcZn

Currently over on Podbean and ITunes we’re talking about JFK, 9/11, aliens and masturbation…don’t ask http://bit.ly/1KOLDsH A brand new podcast will be up and available next week. I certainly appreciate how much everyone loves the new format and hope you keep coming back. We’ll be switching back to a weekly schedule most likely in May as my personal schedule should allow for that by then.

I’m almost done with the initial recording session of the audio book version of The Geek (which is one of the dumbest ideas I’ve ever had…ugh!) and that should be available by the end of the month and I’ll keep you all informed.

I’ve also been asked to speak at a local con here in Los Angeles in mid-may and once that’s all set in stone I’ll let everyone know what it is I’m doing and how you can get involved if you’d like.

And I’ve finally set up my Youtube account and will begin posting videos in April. They will be a mix of vlogs, sketches (if I’m being honest mostly masturbation and fart based humor) opinion crap and a few other random things I find fun. The goal of the channel is to simply be a place where a viewer can come and watch something to take their mind off the stress of the world and hopefully have a laugh.

In the meantime why not follow me on twitter, I always follow back unless you’re a porn bot or trying to sell me twitter followers. Seriously people, if I wanted to buy twitter followers I’d have way more twitter followers. http://bit.ly/1YIWqZA

And hey, let’s do some facebooking because it’s there and I made the bitly link for it http://bit.ly/1CuSZqA

All right folks, thanks for stopping by. I hope everyone has a great rest of the week and a really fun weekend.

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2 thoughts on “Good Days & Bad Days”

Seriously, if you’re ever feeling down just read the good reviews. I know the bad ones suck because it’s impossible to please EVERYONE (as hard as we all try), but please never forget that the Two Gay Geeks absolutely LOVED that book!!! It was one of the greatest reads either of us have ever enjoyed, and not just of The Geek, but from all of your writing!!! (I recently finished Night Mage and seriously enjoyed it!!!).

Thanks ben. And I’m glad you liked night mage as well. I don’t take the bad reviews too seriously, though I do appreciate that he did actually write a thoughtful review even though he didn’t like it. But then the following week there was another great review of the book. Just ups and downs…plus I needed something to write about.